Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life: Coalition seeks moral objection to war
by Adelle M. Banks (RNS)
Originally published 11/10/10 at PewForum.org
WASHINGTON (RNS) On the eve of Veterans Day, religious leaders and veterans called for a reconsideration of conscientious objection to war, saying military members should have the right to object to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for moral reasons.
In a report issued Wednesday (Nov. 10), the Truth Commission on Conscience in War called on the military to revise its rules to include “selective conscientious objection,” and urged religious leaders to address issues of conscience during wartime.
“Training has made it so that our soldiers are much more reflexive than they are reflective about things that happen on the battlefield,”said the Rev. Herman Keizer, a retired Army chaplain who once oversaw chaplains in the European Command.
